Guyana Relayed MV Barima Alert in 8 Minutes

GUYANA · MARITIME SAFETY

A tower officer told Guyana’s ferry inquiry she relayed the beacon’s position to the Coast Guard eight minutes after the first alert. Her first-hand timeline differs from the five-minute figure a senior aviation official gave earlier in the hearing.

The first MV Barima alert reached Guyana’s Timehri air traffic control tower at 10:43 p.m. on Saturday, 18 July. Tower officer Tia Valenzuela sent the beacon’s coordinates to the Coast Guard by WhatsApp at 10:51 p.m., eight minutes later.

Testimony on Wednesday, 14 October, opened public hearings into a sinking in which 73 bodies were recovered. The alert reached Guyana through a federal NOAA centre in Maryland, but the beacon’s registration data did not identify the ship.

The MV Barima, a state-owned passenger and cargo ferry, capsized on 18 July while sailing from Georgetown to Port Kaituma. Port Kaituma lies in Region One, in the country’s far northwest near Venezuela.

President Irfaan Ali said on 24 July that 73 bodies had been recovered, and the Guyana Chronicle put those rescued at 76. The Caribbean Media Corporation later reported the same figures and said more than 30 others were missing and presumed dead.

How the MV Barima Alert Moved That Night

The timeline comes from the official account of the hearing by the Department of Public Information, the government’s news service. Privately owned outlets Demerara Waves, News Source Guyana and Village Voice reported the same key times from the hearing.

Valenzuela is an aeronautical information services officer at the Timehri tower, at Cheddi Jagan International Airport south of Georgetown. Her witness statement, including messages from that night, was admitted into evidence.

She testified that she sent the coordinates to the Coast Guard’s operations phone at 10:51 p.m., and it replied within one minute. She then alerted the lighthouse at 11:01 p.m., and a formal email followed at 11:14 p.m.

At 11:13 p.m., the Coast Guard said one of its vessels was heading out, 30 minutes after the first alert. Valenzuela said her role was to relay alerts and record responses, not to coordinate the search.

She was the only trained officer on duty, working with two trainees after a colleague was allowed to leave early. Asked how she managed the workload, she said, “It wasn’t hard,” adding that she was used to handling several tasks at once.

Five Minutes or Eight Minutes

Rickford Samaroo, director of air navigation services at the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, was the first witness on Wednesday. The authority is the state body that runs Guyana’s air navigation services, including the Timehri tower that receives satellite distress alerts.

He said staff told him the Maritime Administration Department, the Coast Guard and the lighthouse were all notified within five minutes. That second-hand account differs from Valenzuela’s timeline, which shows eight minutes to the Coast Guard and 18 to the lighthouse.

The Maritime Administration Department is Guyana’s shipping regulator, known as MARAD. The Coast Guard is the maritime arm of the Guyana Defence Force, the country’s military.

Samaroo learned of the emergency at about 1 a.m. on 19 July, when the authority’s director general phoned him. He was told a vessel might be in distress and that two aircraft had been authorised to investigate.

Staff must alert him at once when an aircraft sends a distress signal, he said, but no such rule covers vessels. The commission asked for the operating procedures, an after-action report and the complete communications record.

A Beacon That Did Not Name the Ship

Guyana receives satellite distress alerts through the US Mission Control Center, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA says the centre sits in Suitland, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC.

The centre locates signals from 406 MHz emergency beacons and forwards them to the right rescue authority. Samaroo said the system is “programmed to receive any signal on a 406 beacon.”

Demerara Waves, News Source Guyana and Village Voice reported that Samaroo told the commission the Barima’s beacon was not registered. The government’s official account says follow-up explanations described a US registration whose record did not link the beacon to the ferry.

Each alert carried the beacon’s unique code, but without registration details the tower could not identify the vessel or reach an owner. Witnesses said they still treated the signal as top priority and passed it on to frontline rescue units.

NOAA says all US-coded beacons must be registered with it and calls registration the fastest way for rescuers to respond. When a registered beacon fires, the US centre attaches that registration data to the alert it sends on.

What the Commission Is Examining

President Ali, of the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic, appointed the five-member commission. It is chaired by Justice Godfrey Phillip Smith, a judge from Belize.

Its mandate covers the causes of the sinking and the adequacy of the search, rescue and recovery operations. It sits at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre in Liliendaal, just east of Georgetown.

The commission reports to the President and is separate from the criminal courts. The ferry’s captain, its chief mate and a goods superintendent face murder charges over the sinking and remain in custody.

The inquiry’s opening week and its witness plans were covered earlier. Separate reporting examined how the ferry’s faults were flagged before it sank.

What It Means for US Readers

The first link in Guyana’s rescue chain was a NOAA facility near Washington, but the beacon data did not name the ship. The case shows why NOAA requires US-coded beacons to be registered, with the vessel and emergency contacts on file.

For US boat owners, that means checking that a 406 MHz beacon’s registration names the right vessel and emergency contacts. US visitors heading to Guyana’s interior often travel by boat, so the findings on rescue readiness matter to them too.

What Is Not Known

No account of the hearing explained the gap between the five-minute figure and the eight-minute timeline. It is not known whether anyone phoned the Coast Guard or MARAD before the 10:51 p.m. message.

Wednesday’s testimony did not establish when the first Coast Guard boat reached the survivors. Whether the beacon was registered at all is unclear, since Samaroo’s reported answer and the official account differ.

The final death toll is not settled, since about 30 people remain unaccounted for. It is also not known whether the records the commission requested will be made public.

What Comes Next

Hearings resume on Thursday, 15 October, and more than 100 potential witnesses have been identified. The commission expects to need about six months in total before it reports to President Ali.

It has urged survivors and relatives to give evidence, promising arrangements for those who travel to Georgetown to testify. The criminal case against the three accused runs separately in the magistrate’s court.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the MV Barima?

It was a state-owned passenger and cargo ferry that sailed between Georgetown and Port Kaituma in northwest Guyana. It capsized on 18 July, and 73 bodies have been recovered.

What did the inquiry hear on Wednesday?

A tower officer said she sent the beacon’s coordinates to the Coast Guard at 10:51 p.m., eight minutes after the first alert. The Coast Guard said a vessel was heading out at 11:13 p.m.

Why is a US agency involved?

Guyana receives satellite distress alerts through the US Mission Control Center in Maryland, run by NOAA. The beacon’s registration data did not identify the ferry, and Samaroo reportedly told the inquiry it was not registered.

Who is leading the inquiry?

Justice Godfrey Phillip Smith, a judge from Belize, chairs the five-member commission appointed by President Irfaan Ali. It expects to report in about six months.

Has anyone been charged?

Yes, the ferry’s captain, its chief mate and a goods superintendent face murder charges and remain in custody. That criminal case is separate from the commission’s work.

Sources: Department of Public Information, Guyana (Valenzuela testimony); Department of Public Information, Guyana (Samaroo testimony); Department of Public Information, Guyana (13 October); Department of Public Information, Guyana (Coast Guard response); Demerara Waves; News Source Guyana (Samaroo); News Source Guyana (Valenzuela); Village Voice; Guyana Chronicle, 24 July; Guyana Chronicle, 13 October; Caribbean Media Corporation via Virgin Islands News Online; Caribbean Today; Caribbean National Weekly; NOAA SARSAT, US Mission Control Center; NOAA SARSAT (all accessed 15 October 2026).